IMO I would try and avoid plants you have to "plant", try plants that don't need to be rooted in substrate. Tie off large pieces of anubias to some driftwood and you'll get roughly the same affect.
Satanoperca in particular have rather large mouths and are capable of moving suprising amounts of sand in a short amount of time. i.e. - uprooting your plants. There are many floating types that look quite as well.